Have you ever met someone you’ve known, via the wonder of the Interwebs, for a while, and you’re a total fangirl of their work and you worry, when you do finally get to meet them, that you will either babble like a brook or be totally tongue-tied? Welp. I met August McLaughlin, for an interview…
We are too loud, we are too strident. We should protest, but gently, softly. (Not unironically, very much like the sweet, girlish voice of Dr. Blasey Ford, whom they politely pretended to listen to, before ignoring.)
When it comes to rape myths, that battle is already won, or almost won, at least in SoCal. As I walked around downtown LA with my “No Shaming This Slut” Slutwalk sign, people asked about it, and everyone nodded their heads in agreement, that of course no one deserves to be raped because of what they are wearing. (There may be a few troglodytes who still feel differently, but they are also the tinfoil hat kind who believe we faked the Moon landing, so, whatevs.)
I avoided the #AskELJames Twitter party/skewering, because generally, I don’t “do” Twitter, FaceBook events, and the like, but found myself in some interesting group discussions about it, and her work, anyway. Some female writers I know, along with EL James herself, vigorously deny the reality that, as depicted in Fifty Shades of Grey, Christian rapes Ana.…
Over the years, I’d occasionally have sex with guys (prolly inspired by p0rn) who would suddenly, out of nowhere, slap my ass.
WTF?!? Always took me out of the sexy mood, entirely. In a sweet, gentle voice, I would inform those guys, “Try that shit again, asshole, and you’ll pull back a fucking stub.”